Quotes by John Lewis

“Even if toxic people are right about what is "good," they are wrong if the approach is not healthy.”

“It is worth starting with visions, though, because they establish hopes and fears. History then determines which prevail.”

“After all, how many of our todays and of our tomorrows do we want to give our yesterdays? It is one thing to be victimized by another. It is quite another to victimize ourselves because we cannot l...”

“I always understood the idea of the ultimate redeemer, Christ on the cross. But now I was beginning to see that this is something that is carried out in every one of us, that the purity of unearned...”

“Love is a better way.”

“Suffering, though, can be nothing more than a sad and sorry thing without the presence on the part of the sufferer of a graceful heart, an accepting and open heart, a heart that holds no malice tow...”

“[O]ur revolt was as much against the traditional black leadership structure as it was against segregation and discrimination.”

“We come to Selma to be renewed. We come to be inspired. We come to be reminded that we must do the work that justice and equality calls us to do.”

“It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something.”

“When I was a student, I studied philosophy and religion. I talked about being patient. Some people say I was too hopeful, too optimistic, but you have to be optimistic just in keeping with the phil...”

“The action of Rosa Parks, the words and leadership of Dr. King inspired me. I was deeply inspired. I wanted to do something.”

“We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just... do something about it. Say something....”

“I travel all the time, but when I come back to the South, I see such progress. In a real sense, a great deal of the South has been redeemed. People feel freer, more complete, more whole, because of...”

“Without prayer, without faith in the Almighty, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.”

“I believe in forgiveness I believe in trying to work with people. ”

“The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. made me very, very sad, and I mourned and I cried like many of our citizens did.”

“Before we went on any protest, whether it was sit-ins or the freedom rides or any march, we prepared ourselves, and we were disciplined. We were committed to the way of peace - the way of non-viole...”

“Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.”

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.”

“The March on Washington was a March for Jobs and Freedom. There are still too many people who are unemployed or underemployed in America - they're black, white, Latino, Native American and Asian Am...”